Generally, various runflat devices are proposed for supporting the tires in an under-inflated or deflated or run-flat condition. The purpose of these runflat devices is to provide a support to the tire in the event of loss of pressure by various un desirable reasons.
Generally, heavy braking, travel on rough bumpy surfaces, under inflated tyres could cause undesirable relative movement between the wheel and surrounding runflat device over the life time of runflat system causing the formerly balanced wheel assembly subjected to undesirable vibrations. The conventional methods to secure the runflat system to the wheel rim include usage of cam locks, bolts, or elastic bands, or the like. The Runflat system performance is limited due to wheel dimensional tolerance, ovality, irregular wheel surfaces and uneven wheel finish thereby resulting in an undesirable rotation of the runflat over the wheel rim.
Moreover, the conventional wheel rims that are manufactured by rolling of steel sheet and joined by welding and show higher dimensional tolerances above +/−0.1 mm in comparison with casted/forged and machined wheels. when perfectly machined Runflat system is assembled on the steel wheel rim due to the higher dimensional tolerances the static runflat system do not mate thoroughly and tend to rotate over the wheel under extreme conditions which causes reduced tyre traction, travel distance and ultimately leads to premature failure of runflat system.
In light of the aforementioned disadvantages associated with the conventional secured runflat systems, there clearly exists a need for an improved method for securing the runflat device to the wheel rim for supporting the tire in an under-inflated, deflated or run-flat condition and which would assist in increasing the operational capability of a static runflat system.
Generally most of the runflat systems are made of rubber based or visco elastic polymer materials that are secured around the wheel rim with metal locking cams, elastic bands or other locking systems and are always under tension. As most of the visco elastic materials creep over a period of time under constant stress, so a runflat systems that is tightly locked to rim over a period of time tend to loosen, move, rotate in underinflated conditions and if un attended causes vibrations noises and wheel imbalances